GRAPS AND CLAPS REVIEWS – TIDAL WRESTLING ‘ADDICTED TO BAD IDEAS’.

Added 16/08/2018 by Andrew Ogden

After a 2 week break away from writing about wrestling, Graps and Claps comes back with a bang with a rare Wednesday visit to Leeds for Tidal Wrestling’s ‘Addicted to bad ideas’ emanating from The Temple of Boom.

Tidal this year since the move to the Temple has been consistently producing some of the best shows around on the northern scene and this has reflected with a rise in attendances and an almost party atmosphere that is few and far between in British Wrestling apart from RISE who also run in Leeds which is on another level of barmy atmosphere that I have experienced in the 60-odd shows I have been to this year.

Travelling aboard the delayed 16:10 pm service from Rochdale to Leeds with a can of Tesco lager in hand, I arrived in Leeds at 5:30 pm and soon decamped to the regular haunt of Tapped to meet up with Ben (@Britwresawaydays) for the first of two pints before the show.

I had a pint of Oakham Ales Hawse Buckler 5.6% Porter costing £4.40 with a smooth chocolate taste this was a good opener, unlike Ben’s drink which was like drinking liquid sandpaper. A great topic of conversation in here was had about wrestling shitting themselves and Vader’s famous eating habits on one Preston afternoon.

Drink done here we moved on to The North Bar which isn’t far from the venue and offers a wide range of drink, but it can be a bit pricey especially the keg offerings. I had a juicy £6.50 pint of 6.5% Dream Machine OZPA which hit all the right notes as a lovely drink to sip.

Before leaving this pub our group took advantage of the photo booth behind us which has somehow ended up in this boozer, as you can see from our attempts at taking a picture – I in general was shite at this!!

If you are visiting this bar, make sure you stop off beforehand at the bottle shop next door to peruse the good selection of craft ale bottles on sale.

Arriving at the Temple of Boom just as it started to spit with rain, we took up our usual position next to the cooking area in the building in anticipation of the locally famous Vegan Curry, but in a shock announcement from the promoter – Curry wasn’t going to be on tonight and instead it was replaced with Vegan Burger and chips, with the burger think of the Vada Pav burger from Bundobust with regards texture and taste – this was a very good alternative.

Anyways let’s get into the wrestling action which started off with a bit of a hoss battle between the impressive Will Kroos who gained a big victory in a 4-way at the last show and his opponent for this evening was B.A Rose. As expected this was what it said on the tin with both lads smashing lumps out of each other and also a plant pot on the outside.

A thing to notice as well during the match was the presence of Rhio who was scouting for a possible allies.

Rose hit a huge moonsault from the top rope to Kroos who was on the outside – an impressive sight to witness. Sadly for Rose that’s as good as it git with Kroos hitting a roaring headbutt to Rose once back in the ring and then following up with the ‘Greetings from Grimsby’ Driver for the victory – what a good start to the show and expect both wrestlers to become more prevalent on the Northern scene in the months to come.

Next up was a battle of former members of The Service with Dara Diablo taking on Sean Only. Only who has recently turned goodie in Tidal had the full backing of the Leeds audience on this evening especially with a rendition of the Inspiral Carpets classic ‘This is how it feels’ bellowing out from our section

“THIS IS HOW IT FEELS TO BE ONLY, THIS IS HOW IT FEELS TO BE SEAN, THIS IS HOW IT FEELS WHEN YOUR WRESTLING SOMEONE WHO’S BALD” – This certainly put the folically challenged Diablo who got caught off guard by a punch from Only at the moment of this airing.

With Only on his way to victory by locking in a sleeper, the dastardly Diablo managed to low blow Only with the Referee Cowboy John looking into space and not paying attention, this led to Diablo picking up the cheap victory prompting Only after the match wanting Diablo’s blood at an upcoming show.

Next up was Tag Team title action with two of the most popular teans in the Yorkshire area with the Tag Team champions The Lion King taking on the underdog team of Crashboat (Jack Bandicoot and Jake Silver).

With the crowd very much a 50/50 split, they were treated to excellent tag team contest with the action flying here, there and everywhere including Bandicoot’s customary Girder spot as he floored both Lion Kings in a impressive spot, but when he tried it again later in the match he was caught in mid-air by The Lion Kings who hit a huge double powerbomb for the victory to retain there TCW Tag Team titles.

Half-Time Main Event time now with El Ligero fresh from defeat at the last two shows against Mia Yim and Sugar Dunkertom respectively, he was looking to get back on track against Graps and Claps No.1 Subscriber Gabriel Kidd who as soon as he spotted me, he couldn’t wait to ask for my autograph and polaroid picture 😉

Pictured: Some bloke from Nottingham without his lifeboat.

As you can tell I am being sarcastic, instead he came out with an imaginary keyboard and asking for my opinion on different holds he was performing (nice of him to ask).

With the chants of ‘We want Crater’, ‘ITV4’ and ‘You went out on a stretcher’ ringing in his ears, Kidd went on the offensive straight away hitting a sideslam to the hardest part of the ring. I would like to say he dominated a lot of this match using his strength to overwhelm Ligs.

Ligero did try on a number of occasions to hit the C4L when he had Kidd on the back foot but failed. Kidd took matters to the outside right in front of myself beating down Ligero to within a inch of his life and wishing Kidd had brought his lifeboat to sail him to shore.

With Kidd in full control, he got a bit too cocky wondering where I was to critique his match (I went for a piss halfway through) and he ended up getting front cradled by Ligero for the 1-2-3. Maybe the best match of the first half in my opinion (Ligs in a great match once again!) and despite Kidd being a bit of a toss he is a very good wrestler and if anything this role of his as a tosser is really good.

£5 Vegan burger and chips finished we returned with TCW Open Championship action with Amir Jordan and his boundless energy and charisma taking on the Champion, Brady Phillips who to go with his striking resemblence to Monty Python funnyman Graham Chapman he was also wearing some ill-fitting white jeans from the local vintage emporium.

Pictured: Vintage Brady Phillips

Joking aside, Brady is another one to keep a keen eye out for with his good looks, physique and wrestling acumen he has all the tools to rise the ranks.

Before the match started a chant arose for Joe Nelson who was in attendance to enter the ring at the offer of a triple threat match which didn’t happen but Joe did proceed to arm drag both Amir and Brady to a huge ovation. Hopefully we might see Nelson in proper singles action at the next show maybe against Brady.

To continue the great run of matches, Brady picked up a bit of a tainted victory here by crotching a prone Amir on the ropes and then finishing him off with a DDT for the victory to retain his TCW Open Title.

Second to last match of the evening was a Women’s 3-way match with the current No.1 contender Rhio taking on former champion Little Miss Roxxy and Ivy. Early action in this match spilled to outside once again in the sanger zone where we were standing with bodies being flung into the cafe bar area.

Back in the ring with the match coming to a close, Roxxy had a submission locked in on Ivy who was ready to tap until ever the opportunist Rhio rolled up Roxxy from out of nowhere to get the win and build momentum on her way to her shot at Mia Yim in the coming months.

Main event time with honorary brit Sugar Dunkerton taking up his oppotunity at the TCW Heavyweight Championship that he won at the last show against El Ligero, he was taking on the Champion H.T Drake who has been on a bit of a roll in Tidal in the last year.

As ever with any match with Sugar involved, a full.on 5/6 minute rendition of Sugar Sugar took place including a special singalong guest in our group – Amir Jordan who thinks we actually rehearse half the shit we sing beforehand haha!!

Once we got into the action, the crowd was fully behind Dunkerton to dethrone Drake from the title and in what some may call a surprise Sugar made the impossible, possible as he rolled up Drake in just over 15 minutes to cue wild celebrations in The Temple with a celebration conga and a title-winning speech from Dunkerton that brought a tear to my eye – you can tell he loves being over here and is overly grateful at the oppotunities be has been given which he has grasped with both hands. He will be returning in November/December for more fun and frolics after what has been a successful 2 month stint.

Pictured: The Champ!! (Credit: Tidal Wrestling)

So that was that and an end to a fantastic night of wrestling with no duds on the card and the cream of Northern wrestling performing to a high standard. If you do have any spare time, I urge you to visit Tidal Wrestling as you get your money’s worth plus a great feed of Vegan Curries and Burgers and also £2.50 for a can of beer.

Next show is on September 19th, go and check Tidal’s social media for more details.

Next review from Graps and Claps will be the PCW triple show offering from Blackpool and Preston. Until then give this a share and leave any feedback!